Food safety breakthrough

A technological breakthrough allowing the identification of three major food poisoning bacteria in less then 12 hours has been announced by a British research company.

The FastrAK detection system was developed by Alaska Food Diagnostics and its partners Intertek to reduce the risk of food contaminated with Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli getting through to the consumer.

The system gained Association of Analytical Communities Research Institute (AOAC) accreditation, giving the research firm a global licence to implement the product in kitchens and food plants.

Both Alaska Food Diagnostics and its partner Intertek were in Dubai for last month’s International Travel Catering Association Expo (ITCA) when they received the news.

“Our technology gives companies results the next morning, so they can stop delivery of a contaminated batch,” explained Alaska Food Diagnostics chief operating officer Laurence Callow.

The technology has been tested in various UAE facilities, including Etihad and Emirates catering factories and various Jumeirah Group kitchens.

“The technique uses bacteria detection technology originally used by the military,” explained Callow. “It’s unusually accurate and fast.”

“Our focus at this stage is the UK and Europe,” he continued. “The Gulf region, however, is very important to us, as it’s a region where historically food safety has been a challenge because of the climate.

“We’re working with the UAE government who are very committed and aggressively pursuing new technologies, which is great for us,” he added.

Alaska Food Diagnostics are one of several successful private scientific research companies to come out of the UK’s Ministry of Defence research centres.

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